Melbourne City Centre

This article is about the locality within the postcodes 3000 and 3004 of Melbourne in Victoria, Australia, officially known as "Melbourne". For the Greater Melbourne metropolitan area, see Melbourne. For the local government area that envelopes the locality, as well as some inner suburbs, see City of Melbourne.

So the boat went up the large river. And, I am glad to state about six miles up found the river all good water and very deep. This will be the place for a village. — Journal of John Batman (8 June 1835).[10]

The settlement party aboard the Enterprize entered the Yarra River, and anchored close to the site chosen by Batman, on 29 August.[15] The party went ashore the following day (near what is today William Street; and is now celebrated as Melbourne Day) and landed their stores, livestock and began to construct the settlement.[14] The Association party aboard the Rebecca arrived in September after spending time at a temporary camp at Indented Head, where they encountered William Buckley – an escaped convict, believed dead, who had been living for 32 years with the indigenous Aboriginal group, the Wathaurong of the Kulin nation alliance.[16] Batman was dismayed to discover the settlers of the Enterprize had established a settlement in the area and informed the settlers that they were trespassing on the Association's land. However, according to the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, both the parties were in fact trespassing on Crown land.[13] When Fawkner (who was noted for his democratic nature)[14] arrived in October, and following tense arguments between the two parties, negotiation were made for land to be shared equally.

As Fawkner had arrived after the two parties, he was aware of the Proclamation of Governor Bourke, which had gained approval from the Colonial Office in October.[13] He knew that cooperation would be vital if the settlement was to continue to exist fait accompli. Land was then divided, and the settlement existed peacefully, but without a formal system of governance.[15] It was referred to by a number of names, including: "Batmania" and "Bearbrass"[10][17] of which the latter was agreed upon by Batman and Fawkner.[17] Fawkner assumed a leading role in the establishment of Bearbrass;[14] which, by early 1836, consisted of 177 European settlers (142 male and 35 female settlers).[15] The Secretary of State for the Colonies, Charles Grant, recognised the settlement's fait accompli that same year, and authorised Governor Bourke to transfer Bearbrass to a Crown settlement.[15] Batman and the Port Phillip Association were compensated £7,000 for the land.[8] And, in March 1837, it was officially renamed "Melbourne" by Governor Bourke in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb (the Lord Melbourne).[15]

The Hoddle Grid is the layout of the streets in the centre of the original Melbourne City Centre. The grid was laid out in 1837 by Robert Hoddle. All major streets are one and half chains (99 ft or 30 m) in width, while all blocks are exactly 10 chains square (10 acres, 201 m × 201 m). It is one mile (1.6 km) long by half a mile wide (0.80 km). The grid's longest axis is oriented 70 degrees clockwise from true north, to align better with the course of the Yarra River. The majority of Melbourne is oriented at 8 degrees clockwise from true north–noting that magnetic north was 8° 3' E in 1900, increasing to 11° 42' E in 2009.[19] It covers the area from Flinders Street to Queen Victoria Market, and from Spencer Street to Spring Street.

From the 1870s to 1920s, the central part of Melbourne was home to mostly medical professionals who had established practices along Collins Street and Spring Street.[20] Before the 1960s, only a handful of permanent residents lived in the Spring Street area and St Kilda Road. The area was largely unpopular for residents and Council policies did not permit development of apartment style housing in the area.

St Kilda Road was annexed in the 1960s and given the postcode of Melbourne 3004 to stimulate office development along the strip and reduce pressure on overdevelopment of the Hoddle Grid. The result was the demolition of many of the street's grand mansions.[citation needed]

During Melbourne's colonial formation, no space in the city was given to public squares or piazzas, as was common in European and North American cities, because colonial planning in Australia was designed to avoid any facilitation of protests or public loitering.[21] Furthermore, in the 20th century, the majority of Melbourne's inhabitants would commute into the CBD purely for work purposes, and thus little time was spent in the city recreationally. In the 1970s, one commentator remarked that Little Lonsdale Street was "as deserted as war-torn Berlin”.[21][22] Public planning policy shifted in the 1980s and interest in the CBD was renewed. In the 2000s and the 2010s, inner-city living has increased, attracting international investors particularly those from China.

According to the 2016 census, there were 47,285 residents. 20.0% of residents were born in Australia. The most common countries of birth were China 21.5%, Malaysia 7.2%, India 5.7%, Indonesia 3.9% and South Korea 3.4%. 28.8% of residents spoke only English at home. Other languages spoken at home included Mandarin 26.4%, Cantonese 4.9%, Indonesian 3.5%, Korean 3.1% and Thai 2.3%. The most common response for religion was No Religion at 43.6%[1]

Central Melbourne has one of the fastest growing residential populations in Australia. Residents of the city centre are of mixed social status.[23] On one hand, living in the centre of the city offers proximity to work and the best access to public transport. On the other hand, there are many strata titledstudio apartments that have no carparks and limited space. As a result, there is a mix of students and young urban professionals living in the locality of Melbourne, with a relatively low car dependency.

Melbourne City Centre, compared with other Australian cities, has comparatively unrestricted height limits and as a result of waves of post-war development contains five of the six tallest buildings in Australia, the tallest of which is the Eureka Tower, situated in Southbank. It has an observation deck near the top from where you can see above all of Melbourne's structures.[25] The Rialto tower, the city's second tallest, remains the tallest building in the old CBD; its observation deck for visitors closed in December 2009.[26]

It is also the literary centre of Australia, and has more bookshops and publishing companies per capita than any other city in Australia, and includes the headquarters of the World's largest travel guidebook publisher Lonely Planet. In 2008, it was designated a "City of Literature" by UNESCO in its Creative Cities Network.[7] Melbourne has been placed alongside New York and Berlin as one of the world's great street art meccas,[27] and its extensive street art-laden laneways, alleys and arcades were voted by Lonely Planet readers as Australia's top cultural attraction.[28]

Most professional sporting clubs represent Greater Melbourne (e.g. Melbourne Victory, Melbourne Storm). An exception is the Melbourne Cricket Club and Melbourne Football Club (its offshoot), both based at the Melbourne Cricket Ground which was built in Jolimont, adjacent to the city but a locality of the suburb of East Melbourne. Both were the first clubs of their respective sports and established in a time when the city's population was still very small and limited to a handful of inner suburbs. As a result, the Melbourne Cricket Club has a fairly exclusive membership, whilst the Melbourne Football Club, although bearing the name Melbourne, is associated by the supporters of other suburban clubs as representing the central suburb and perceive its supporters to represent the locality and not the entire city.[29] As a result, despite its rich tradition and early success, it is one of the least supported clubs in the VFL/AFL. The lack of identity resulted in a push for the Melbourne Hawks, which was stopped by intervention from Joseph Gutnick and the majority of the Hawthorn Football Club members. It has had intense rivalries with younger clubs from the adjacent inner suburbs such as the Collingwood Football Club and early inter-town rival Geelong Football Club. The Melbourne Football Club has recently made efforts to shed its suburban tag and be embraced by the whole metropolitan area.[30] In line with this, the club recently employed strategies such as establishing Team Melbourne, (a group of sporting teams which bear the name "Melbourne"), and a strategy for promoting the brand as representing the city in China through club supporter and former Lord Mayor John So.

Golf is played at the course of the Albert Park Golf Club on Queens Road.[31]

Trams run down the main streets of Flinders, Collins, Bourke and La Trobe as well as Spencer, Market, Elizabeth, Swanston, Spring and Swan Streets and St Kilda Road. There are several large accessibility tram "superstops" located in Flinders Street, Collins Street, Swanston Street and Bourke Street Mall.[33]

The city is also well connected by bus services, with majority of buses running down Lonsdale Street. Major bus stops include Melbourne Central and Queen Victoria Village. Most bus routes service suburbs north and east of the city given the lack of train lines to these areas.

Major bicycle trails lead to the CBD and a main bicycle path down Swanston Street.